The Eczema Diet: Discover How to Stop and Prevent The Itch of Eczema Through Diet and Nutrition

I thought I'd write a review for this book, seeing as how there weren't a lot of clear, concise reviews on it. I'm a female in late thirties, who suddenly developed a case of eczema on my ankles 4 months ago. It progressively got worse, eventually spreading to my feet, calves, neck, face and scalp. I was miserable!! I am not the type of person to suffer in silence or to just sit back and accept my fate. So of course my first line of defense was to visit my dermatologist, who of course prescribed topical steroid (the strongest you can get, I'll add)..needless to say I was concerned. I knew the steroids were only going to be a "band aid" and I wanted to figure out the root cause of this! I found it very odd that I just woke up this way one day, well into my adult life. I'd never had eczema as a child, and no known allergies. Although bad skin and seasonal allergies do run in my family, with both parents. I was determined to solve this problem! I went crazy perusing the internet for hours on end, I visited 2 more dermatologists who both told me the same thing.."no one really knows the cause, it's chronic, you'll have it for the rest of your life. Food bears no influence on it, eat whatever you want." And of course..prescribed more steroids. Which I did not take. I then started spending 100's of dollars on various ointments, creams, shampoos and soaps. I covered myself in Aquaphor at night, and hated the sticky feeling, getting all of my clothes stained. I tried bleach baths and wet wraps. Although these things gave me temporary relief, and it would seem to get better, a couple of days later without fail it would always come back with a vengeance! During this whole time I'd been seeing things online about diet and eczema..and I always brushed it off as some "hippie dippie" propaganda. Not to mention I LOVE food and I was adamantly refusing to even entertain the notion of eliminating certain things from my diet. A couple of reasons for this were 1: I'm a very petite woman to begin with at only about 105lbs, I was very scared to reduce my diet and risk losing weight. 2: I felt I already ate fairly well to begin with. I NEVER ate fast food, haven't drank soda in a few years, tried to limit red meat most times and made sure to eat tons of fruit everyday! So I had the attitude of "I already eat well compared to most people, and there's nothing a special diet will do for me!" and I kept eating my normal foods..and I kept itching...then it turned into headaches everyday, on top of the itching. That's when I said "enough is enough" and went down the one last avenue I had been refusing to go down. I ordered this book with a VERY skeptical attitude toward it. But I was sooo surprised! It turns out I was eating a lot of the wrong foods everyday! Even though a lot of those foods are very nutritious, such as spinach, avacado, berries and almonds, they are loaded with a natural chemical called "salicylates" which some people can develop a sensitivity over time. I said to myself "pish posh, I don't have a salicylate senstivity! I've been eating these same foods for years and never had a skin issue!" But low and behold, the moment I cut all of those things out and followed the diet and recipes in this book, I stopped itching and had no headaches within 2 days!!! I am now on the 7th day of this diet and I have to say I am very impressed and grateful! I have not itched in almost a week, and my skin is clearing up before my eyes. I know a lot of people say this diet plan is strict. And it definitely is...don't get me wrong I am certainly craving a giant burger right now or a huge piece of chocolate cake, haha, but the fact that I'm not itching is so much more important to me right now. And she says in the book quite clearly that you can alter her diet to suit your own nutritional situation. For example, for adults w/ eczema she recommends a "3 day cleanse" before the diet where you essentially drink nothing but veggie broth for 3 days straight. She advised that children and pregnant women skip this part. I feel I'm the size of a large child anyway, lol, and couldn't risk losing weight, so I skipped that 3 day cleanse and just went right into the diet. Also, a side note, she has 2 different diet/menu plans for adults and children. I borrowed a lot of the menu ideas from the kid's menu...such as oatmeal w/ bananas (which I'd already been eating anyway), and incorporated a lot of the "adult" meals at dinner time. What I love about this book are the recipes and daily menu plans. She lays the menu plans out in a calendar format so you can get a very clear idea of what you need to buy at the grocery store, and different meals to fill your day, so you're not starving at all. In fact I've tried a few new things that I never thought I'd like. Such as carob powder (replacement for chocolate) and rice milk (turns out it's quite tasty!)...also I've made several of her recipes (pear muffins, chickpea casserole, roasted chicken) and even my fiance had second helpings. So they're not completely bland and tasteless meals. Of course it's a very mild diet in the way that you're cutting out about 95% sugar, gluten (there are a ton of delicious gluten free breads on the market these days though and they're allowed in this diet), cow's milk/cheese. The main thing it taught me was the level of salicylates in different fruits/vegetables. Once I cut out those specific foods, I have not had a headache, or itched for close to one week. I am VERY hopeful at this point! This is the ONLY thing that has worked for me thus far!! And she even says that it does not mean we can never eat these "normal" foods again. She mentioned typically within 8 weeks you've given your liver enough of a chance to rest and heal and at that point you can slowly introduce your old foods again..and in a few months you should be at the point where you're eating a full "normal" diet. I went into this diet kicking and screaming and I have completely changed my viewpoint. I feel physically better in general. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is suffering with itchy skin right now!! It will be worth it! Update: May 2nd, 2016....This book includes raw, unsalted cashews into its diet plan. I absolutely loved this because I've always been a huge fan of almonds, cashews, pistachios, etc and I was thrilled to learn I could still snack on nuts for a quick fix. During the month and a half of doing this diet my eczema did get a lot better...but never went away totally. Finally, a week ago, I went back to the food diary I'd given up on a few weeks ago and decided to re-read it, per my doctor's instruction. I was starting to get really cranky being on this restricted diet and watching my rash get better, then worse, then better again :( After reading the food diary again I realized there was one constant throughout my entire diet...and that was I'd been eating some various form of nut through the whole thing. I also noticed that every time I ate nuts, I recorded that was very itchy a day or two later. Why I never made the correlation I have no idea. But within 5 days of quitting all nuts cold turkey, the rash started rapidly fading!! It has now been 7 days and it is about 95% gone. I only wish I would've known this 6 months ago when the whole nightmare began!! This diet book is based upon a low salicylate diet...which is great..if you're sensitive to salicylates. I think maybe I was a tad bit, because my itching went from about a 10 down to a 1 or 2 on this diet. However, it never completely went away and every night the irritating itch (although not nearly as intense as before) would come back to haunt me....like I said, she includes raw cashews in her diet plan. Not her fault, as she does mention (unless you have a nut sensitivity)..turns out I did and I just didn't know it. I am about 95% better after not eating nuts...I realize everyone is different. What this diet plan did for me though was to narrow my choices of foods down so much that it helped me pick out the culprit that much easier. Since I had already cut out so many other things like dairy, wheat, most fruits, almonds, peanuts, caffeine, alcohol, etc...it wasn't that hard to pin down the thing that could be making my eczema worse. It was simply a matter of cutting out 1 more food..which I have to say was extremely difficult given my love of cashews..but I am very happy to see the eczema so rapidly going away!! I will attempt to add nuts back into my diet in a few months and see what happens. I will provide another update at that time. Good luck everyone!!

Clear succinct information about eczema. No doctor has offered information. Steroids are scary especially for children. There truly is much more to life than eating. My daughters and I have had dairy allergies most of our lives. Now we have serious gluten intolerance. Mine first showed as a severe asthma trigger and as the gluten rash for 12 years. Five dermatologists misdiagnosed or said (the honest ones)that they had no idea. It was all over my limbs and face. About 7yrs ago I found pictures of the rash on Wickipedia. Mine were exactly the same. Health is more important than anything you want to eat. I know what it is to itch! I do not even want gluten. There are so very many products available now for special diets. I also have many recipie books from Amazon, a rice cooker, and a cheap bread machine. Everything needed is on Amazon. That said, it is my husband of 54 years, who is covered from his neck to his arches in ugly, scary, pustular eczema. Since he an agent orange and a stage 4 lymphoma 10 year survivor he has agreed to stop the steroids, I have not gotten in his face about the diet in the book. I just rub on his natural creams on his very dry skin. While he will not even discuss the diet, he has agreed to supplements and eating much more omega 3 fatty acids.Fortunately, he will take supplements. The author covers them clearly and succinctly in the first part of the book. She even covers gut health which is as important as skin to the immune system. We are currently using Wild Naturals Eczema & Psoriasis Cream. I chose it , on Amazon, due to it's claim to open clogged pores. It gives him about 12 hours of relief. We have used two 8 oz containers since 4 Aug. He is looking a little better, but more important is a good nights sleep due to itching relief. BUY THS BOOK

I would like to say I have been struggling with eczema my whole life, and most recently (the past year) it went from just my elbows, to over my whole body. Dr's did nothing but prescribe stronger and stronger corticosteroids, they don't ever try to pinpoint the "why" which is very frustrating. I didn't even bother with the stronger corticosteroids, due to the effects. I tried this book as the last hope and after a few weeks, my eczema stopped itching, flaring up, and eventually started clearing up. I'M SO THANKFUL FOR THIS BOOK! There were SO MANY POTENTIAL TRIGGERS THAT I HAD NO CLUE ABOUT! I think identifying triggers that I would've never otherwise realized is the biggest take-away for me. There are a lot more things besides gluten and diary that can cause eczema flare-ups. I personally realized that most of what I'm drinking (coffee, tea, kombucha, wine) was actually contributing greatly to my flare-ups, as I drank two out of three of those things every day before 11am and probably all 4 by 7pm. While I have eased a little on the diet as I'm dealing with the stress of Corona & quarantine, I still cook the soup regularly and have integrated many of the fruits and vitamins that it recommends into my everyday life. My eczema rarely flares up now and if it does it's directly related to something I'm eating or drinking. I am not 100% eczema free just yet and my skin is still healing, but this book gave me hope that one day I will be. (NO I didn't get paid for this review; just a life-time eczema sufferer that is happy for some relief).

Packed with USEFUL information that was so helpful in resolving so many of my eczema problems. I have suffered from severe atopic dermatitis ALL my life. Karen Fischer's "Eczema Diet" book has changed my life. Sadly; the medical professionals were always treating the symptoms with drugs and topical steroid creams which did not get to the root of the problem. Being lethally allergic to nuts and seafood since birth it was a no brainer to check for food allergies and we did. I'm an identical twin and the doctor actually told my mother not to feed both babies the same thing, so if one baby died of an allergic reaction she'd still have the other one! Skin prick and blood test's picked up countless allergies, but NO ONE mentioned CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES particularly to SALICYLATES until Karen Fischer! Outlining what foods have high contents and should initially be avoided until the liver can keep up to detoxifying the body. Then flares can be avoided while the body heals. She also tells you how to reduce blood Histamine levels and how to detox your liver. So KEY if you want to get eczema under control. At one point 95 percent of my body was covered. When my son died unexpectedly and my husband was diagnosed with a rare terminal disease my stress level went off the chain. STRESS exacerbates eczema. Karen offers information on what to AVOID as well as what to eat. She covers SUPPLEMENTS needed as well as a list of foods that are healthy and eczema friendly. She gives recipes and shares first hand advice that worked for her. I'm so grateful for her Extensive research and knowledge. I'm going to order additional copies of this book and send them to my loved ones who also suffer. Praise the Lord and thank you Jesus for Karen Fischer's book! She also covers acid versus alkaline foods very well, and so much better then other book I bought.

My son suffers with Eczema still but it started around 6 months old and progressively got worse. I went to doctors for advice and of course, got the steroid creams but I just wasn't satisfied hearing that it "comes and goes". There were days when his skin looked great and then other days that his skin looked awful and he would be up all night long crying. I also became intrigued when I would give him a food (raisins, strawberries, tomatoes etc) and his skin would turn terrible in a few hrs after eating them. It became evident to me that it MUST be related to things he was eating and not just something he would have to outgrow! I was determined to find an answer. I stumbled across this book while trying to find more natural lotions for his skin to use. I thought it must be worth a try. I started reading it and made small changes at first. Then decided it's now or nothing and put him on the diet as best as I could and ordered the supplements from her as well. It has taken about 6 months and now that he is almost 2, it's almost impossible to keep his diet so strict without having a very unhappy boy but we try our best. But let me tell you, he almost looks like a different kid. He has always been a very smiley, happy boy but now he sleeps almost every night thru the night and his remaining eczema is very mild. I plan to buy the Eczema Detox just to compare and try some recipes (his birthday is coming up) but if you or anyone you know suffers from this, it's a must read! What have you got to loose?!

Not what I expected. While it sheds light on Eczema and possible food related causes, it's a tough read. I actually put it down for several days because I was so confused. It's very technical and basically jumps around. By the time I did finish it, I decided to use a minimal amount of the information (mostly pertaining to salicylates) as I felt I was getting lost again and heading toward developing an eating disorder! The author kept referring to the Eczema Diet, but offered very little in the way of recipes. I haven't donated it yet.... but I'm thinking about it. I gave it 3 stars because after I went through it nearly 4 times... (I really wanted to understand this authors message) there are some points I can use... I'm exhausted.......

I am now 32 years old and have suffered severely since I was in elementary school. Last year, my dermatologist prescribed me Dupixent, a new, self injection to cure eczema and it did! But after 6 months of use, I suffered from eye infections which was a common side affect. I had to get off of it but was desperate for the eczema not to come back so I decided to buy this book. It brought to light a lot of things that I didn't realize I was sensitive to. Safe to say, my eczema has not returned severely as I suffered before. This book will show you how to supplement and eat properly!!

I'm going to cut to the chase. This is the most important book I have ever read, esp for health. I was in a panic when I realized all of my super healthy foods were not helping and my eczema was flaring. Frustrated, I had eliminated coffee, sodas, any processed food, dairy and gluten. That is a lot but it left me with thinking, I am going to embrace this health kick. Amped up on avocado, peppers, tomato, onion, spinach and especially my new anti inflammatory favorite, blue berries. Went on a anniversary trip and packed healthy snacks and lots of red grapes. Eczema was doing ok but not great until Saturday night. The worse flare!!! What I didn't know was all of these foods are super high in salicylates. Now what?!?!?! There are so many contributors to my dermatitis but as hard as I was working, I was frustrated. I am so thankful at the many years of experience and research on food and vitamins that you have done, Karen. I love the chart the most and would like you to expand it and sell handbook to take to the grocery store. If you have ANY autoimmune issues, read this book. I was blown away. Also do not take any food advice from ANYONE that does not understand eczema thoroughly. I am so hopeful, I have some things in my control. My Ph is balanced now, my skin is clearing up (4 days), I know better how to manage and balance. Thank you for this incredible book. I am so sorry your child had to deal with this but look at how many people you have helped!!!

This book is wonderful! As a mom of a 9 month old with stubborn eczema, I have spent months trying everything under the sun to help him. We have been to allergists, doctors, hospitals, paediatricians... When he has a flare up, his cheeks become raw and open, bleeding and weeping. From steroid creams to antibiotics to antifungals etc, nothing has helped him long term. I bought this book on a whim and I’m so glad it wasn’t a waste. Within a few days, I see a huge improvement in his skin. It is healing! Thank you! 10/10 will recommend. If you’re struggling With eczema, this may be just what you’re looking for. This book gives you a look at different chemicals and vitamins within foods and why/why not they are eczema friendly. Also safe for breastfeeding moms. We found that we were giving him all kinds of things causing inflammation and throwing off the ph balance in his body, in addition to some deficiencies

This book has been very helpful in the understanding of eczema and I now finally understand what is going on after years of applying steroid and other creams in the hope it would go away. There is a baby and child section in this book, although I skipped that section because it didn't apply to me, but i am sure beneficial to parents looking for help. It does have a list on foods of which can aggravate and ones that will help . The recipes seem a bit time consuming if you don't have a lot of it. I mixed and matched information from here Jason Vales clear skin programme and fast eczema cure and changed the diet completely on advice given in these books . There is lots of advice and information and if you have eczema its well worth reading these. I wish I had come across them along time ago. It took about three weeks on a good healthy diet with lots of water to actually see the changes on the outside, but now I have the information I need to control it rather that it controlling me.

This explains how eczema works, what may aggravate eczema in your diet and includes a plan to follow. It also includes recipes, and there are more recipes on her website. I highly recommend this book as the eczema diet tremendously helped my eczema. Since I have very severe eczema, I started having regular consults with Karen Fisher (she does consults in her clinic in Sydney and also by Skype internationally) and take her eczema supplement (which was only available by prescription through a consult but is now available without prescription on her website eczemalife.com), which further helped my progress. If you have mild to moderate eczema, I highly recommend following the diet from the book (no cheating! the purpose of the diet is to reduce your chemical load and eliminate the chemicals that give you eczema, so if you cheat you won't be able to do that). You may want to consider her supplement (there is a chapter on supplements, what may not be clear to some is that she does NOT recommend taking tons of supplements, especially since additional ingredients may actually make your eczema worse, but her own supplement includes all the nutrients that she presents in that chapter). If you have severe eczema, you may want to try the book version (which should help) and you may want to consider a consult if you want quicker or bigger results since there are other versions of the diet and some tweaks that Karen can give you. She can also help with stopping topical steroids (cortisone creams).

I develop Eczema later in life in my 40's. It's been a struggle coming to terms with the skin problem. The Eczema Diet has helped me a lot it covers every thing about Eczema. My Eczema problem has improved since reading and following the advice given in the book. Thank you.

Broke out into terrible eczema and hives so I needed a diet to follow, read this lengthy book because I needed something, anything! My Tip: Use a highlighter! It'll help joint down important notes because some things will be repeated. While still important things, many diet restrictions will be repeated.